How to Release Creativity

According to most dictionaries. creativity is the ability to create. However, creativity is more than what is defined by the dictionary. It is an idea, a process, a thought。or a state of mind. One cannot learn to be creative because creativity is natural and unique to each individual. People should know that creativity doesn’t equal success. It equals the act of expressing. So. if at first the goal that is aimed for is not achieved, there is no need for worry or frustration.

Creativity can, however, be released by discovery. Some people need encouragement to help

release their creativity. There are quite a few ways to release it.

One way to release creativity would be to look for what can inspire you. Looking at the world and admiring the differences in people and places help. Creativity can be drawn from their beauty. A person can touch, taste, smell, hear, and see hundreds of different objects. Aromas from foods, textures of blankets, and sight of unusual objects can all give inspiration.

Many people are too concerned with how things should look. The focus should be on how it actually looks in the raw, to the human eye. Colors and shapes can be distorted(扭曲)by the mere fact that people want others to see it for what it is. It’s more difficult for someone to let go of all that and just let their creativity flow, unblocked.

Another way to get the creativity flowing is to research what other artists have done or are currently doing. Their cultures and biographies alone can be an inspiration. Examining their works can help some appreciate artistic expression. New techniques can even be drawn from their works.

Some people are even inspired by everyday events, like reading the newspaper or watching the news. Some can take other people’s situations and describe how it makes them feel. That is a way to release creativity. Controversial issues, such as War or abortion, can inspire writings like poems. They can be used to express death, loss, or tragedy. General topics such as religion or politics can branch off into many directions, sending creativity into overdrive.

Creativity is not about reaching a goal or being a perfectionist. It’s about being, feeling, and taking all that is inside and letting it out in one way or another. Creativity is not always expressed by paintings, drawings, or writings. One’s action is the main form to express creativity. Romance, for example, is a form of creativity. Love and emotion are inspired by one person for another. Taking something inside and then putting it back out into the world as another thing is the key of creativity. Knowing and loving someone so much that there is a need to express it is a very natural form of creativity.

Another form of expressing creativity is talking. Some people are more blessed in this area than in more obvious ones。such as painting or drawing. They Paint a “word picture”. Speeches can be centered around new ideas and thoughts. It can contain an of one’s being and transform it into either simple or complicated words.

Inspiration is vital to creativity. Even if it’s only a slight feeling or thought that inspires. Creativity can be released each time attempts are made to use the body as all outlet. Remember that creativity is not an art form, but that it forms art.

How to Release Creativity

As a solo artist, Brightman has sold 26 million albums and two million DVDs in 34 countries. Her musical styles put opera, pop and jazz together. She is popular in the States but not here(Britain) – the image of her and her second husband, Andrew Lloyd Webber (he much older, she his muse) seems for ever frozen.

The 47-year-old singer talks about the new album Symphony that came out of a “very dark time”, including her decision to give up trying to have children. “People have suggested I could adopt,” Brightman says. “But work is central to my life now. And so I am going to put it to one side. After a while not having children becomes the norm and perhaps that might sound alarming, to parents especially, but I have never known anything different. I’m not hurt by not having children. My life and career are incredibly rich.”

Talking about growing up in a large family in Berkhamsted (father a property developer who later committed suicide), she says: “I was gifted as a child, and very musical. I seemed to be good at anything to do with the arts. At 5 I understood the music I was dancing to and had an eye for costume.” She first appeared in a West End musical at 11 and hated boarding school.

Brightman led the saucy dance troupe（辣妹三人舞） Hot Gossip and had her first hit with I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper in 1978. At 18 she married a music manager called Andrew Graham Stewart. “I was probably in love but I can’t remember. Girls change such a lot between 18 and 22. It didn’t really work out.” In 1981 she was spotted by Lloyd Webber. She became his leading lady in Song and Dance, Requiem and Phantom of the Opera. They married in 1984.

Brightman says she felt hostility(敌意) “from the beginning. I haven’t tried to understand it. I’ve done very well everywhere else, especially the US, where I now live, I just accept it for what it is. The more you are away from Britain, the more you appreciate it. But I don’t miss it, although I miss my family. Our profession can be uncomfortable but I enjoy what I do. I get on with it.”

The first paragraph tells us that _____.

  A. Brightman is very popular around the world except in America

  B. Brightman’s musical style is a mixture of opera, pop and jazz

  C. the British people don’t like her for her style of music

  D. Brightman is much older than Andrew Lloyd Webber

Brightman decided to give up having children because _____.

  A. she could adopt one    B. her life and career were unbelievably rich without children

  C. she felt it normal not to have children   D. she was too busy

The following statements are true except ______.

  A. Brightman first appeared in a West End musical at 5

  B. Brightman disliked life on the campus

  C. Brightman was very gifted when she was young

  D.The saucy dance troupe made Brightman famous

The underlined word in the fourth paragraph probably means _____.

  A. located     B. admired     C. followed     D. found

What does the author try to say in the last paragraph by quoting Brightman’s words?

  A. Brightman has to accept the fact that she is liked in Britain

  B. Brightman lives in America but she loves her own country

  C. The British coldness towards Brightman led to her hatred to her homeland

  D. Brightman was at a loss why she was not welcome in Britain

Tattoos and body piercings（穿孔）have moved up on the trend list in recent years. Around Western schools lots of teens are sporting new holes and “flesh ink”（纹身）. As with all other subjects, the Chinese will surely have to deal with this situation with respect to their children. To get a better view of what has happened in the West, 1et’s sit down and hear what they say.

Tiara from Indiana： 

I personally think body piercing is sickening. If there were supposed to be holes in your body，you would have been born with them. I do，however，think that ear piercing is not wrong. There is a difference between ear piercing and belly button piercing. Ear piercing is not nearly as dangerous. I would be sick if someone stuck a needle in my belly button.

Lee from Illinois:

Hi! I live in Illinois. I am 23. I have 12 tattoos and three piercings. I love my tattoos and consider myself an art collector. You would be surprised at who has given me the thumbs up on my art work. People on the street stop me to look at the tattoo on my leg. Most of them don’t know what it is. They just think the work itself is great.

Subotai from California:

I’m not forbidden of self-expression，but when I see high school students getting these piercings, I really wonder. In some cases, the drive is deeper and darker than mere fashion. A friend of mine tried piercing her own tongue with a safety pin. It got infected and she had a tongue the size of a cow’s.

Jackson from Ohio:

I don’t think it is wrong, but when people do it all over the place like their face and everything—I think that’s ridiculous. People who get the big “dragons that cover the whole body—I don’t think that’s necessary.” When I see naked chicks on guys, I think, “You have no respect for women.”

1.Who doesn’t think tattoos and piercings except ear piercing are beautiful？

A．Jackson           B．Lee              C．Tiara             D．Subotai

2.We can conclude that        .

A．tattoos and piercings are a new kind of elegant art

B．all the teachers in the West are in favour of tattoos and piercings

C．everything is changeable as time goes on

D．it is necessary to live with different views of beauty

3.The best title for this passage is probably        .

A．Body Art or Causing Damage

B．Doing Damage to the Young People’s Bodies

C．Young People’s Different Curiosities

D．The Latest Fashion

When I was a boy growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s, we had a milkman delivering milk to our doorstep. His name was Mr. Basille. He wore a white cap and drove a white truck. As a 5-year-old boy, I couldn’t take my eyes off the coin changer fixed to his belt. He noticed this one day during a delivery and gave me a quarter out of his coin changer.
Of course, he delivered more than milk. There was cheese, eggs and so on. If we needed to change our order, my mother would pen a note—“Please add a bottle of buttermilk next delivery”—and place it in the box along with the empty bottles. And then, the buttermilk would magically（魔术般）appear.
All of this was about more than convenience. There existed a close relationship between families and their milkmen. Mr. Basille even had a key to our house, for those times when it was so cold outside that we put the box indoors, so that the milk wouldn't freeze. And I remember Mr. Basille from time to time taking a break at our kitchen table, having a cup of tea and telling stories about his delivery.
There is sadly no home milk delivery today. Big companies allowed the production of cheaper milk thus making it difficult for milkmen to compete (竞争). Besides, milk is for sale everywhere, and it may just not have been practiced to have a delivery service.
Recently, an old milk box in the countryside I saw brought back my childhood memories. I took it home and planted it on the back porch (门廊). Every so often my son's friends will ask what it is. So I start telling stories of my boyhood, and of the milkman who brought us friendship along with his milk.
【小题1】Mr. Basille gave the boy a quarter out of his coin changer     .

In this age of Internet chat，videogames and reality television，there is no shortage of mindless activities to keep a child occupied．Yet，despite the competition，my 8-year-old daughter Rebecca wants to spend her leisure time writing short stories．She wants to enter one of her stories into a writing contest，a competition she won last year．

    As a writer I know about winning contests，and about losing them．I know what it is like to work hard on a story only to receive a rejection slip from the publisher．I also know the pressure of trying to live up to a reputation created by previous victories．What if she doesn.t win the contest again？That’s the strange thing about being a parent．So many of our own past scars and dashed hopes can surface．

A revelation（启示）came last week when l asked her，”Don’t you want to win again？” “No,” she replied，“I just want to tell the story of an angel（天使）going to first grade．”

I had just spent weeks correcting her stories as she spontaneously（自发地）told them．Telling myself that l was merely an experienced writer guiding the young writer across the hall. I offered suggestions for characters，conflicts and endings for her tales．The story about a fearful angel starting first grade was quickly“guided”by me into the tale of a little girl with a wild imagination taking her first music lesson．I had turned her contest into my contest without even realizing it．

Staying back and giving kids space to grow is not as easy as it looks．Because I know very little about farm animals who use tools or angels who go to first grade，I had to accept the fact that I was co-opting（借用）my daughter’s experience．

While stepping back was difficult for me，it was certainly a good first step that l will quickly follow with more steps，putting myself far enough away to give her room but close enough to help if asked．All the while I will be reminding myself that children need room to experiment，grow and find their own voices．

1.What did the author say about her own writing experience？

    A．Most of her stories had been rejected by publishers．

    B．She did not quite live up to her reputation as a writer．

    C．Her way to success was full of pains and frustrations．

    D．She was constantly under pressure of writing more．

2.Why did Rebecca want to enter this year’s writing contest？

    A．She wanted to share her stories with readers．

    B．She was sure of winning with her mother’s help．

    C．She believed she possessed real talent for writing．

    D．She had won a prize in the previous contest．

3.The author took great pains to refine her daughter’s stories because       ．

    A．she was afraid Rebecca’s imagination might run wild while writing

    B．she did not want to disappoint Rebecca who needed her help so much

    C．she believed she had the knowledge and experience to offer guidance

    D．she wanted to help Rebecca realize her dreams of becoming a writer

4.What’s the author’s advice for parents？

    A．Parents should keep an eye on the activities their kids engage in．

    B．Children should be allowed freedom to grow through experience．

    C．A writing career，though attractive，is not for every child to pursue．

    D．Children should be given every chance to voice their opinions．